Chuck Schumer dares Trump: Show us the tapes, or admit they don’t exist

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) talks to reporters following his party’s weekly policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol May 16, 2017 in Washington, DC.

source

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer implored President Donald Trump on Thursday to produce tapes of his conversations with former FBI Director James Comey, or “admit that there are no tapes.”

“It’s awfully curious that no one from the president’s team will either confirm or deny the existence of those tapes, when the tapes are the only way to prove that Mr. Comey’s testimony, which came under oath, was false or misleading,” said Schumer, speaking on the Senate floor after Comey’s testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

“President Trump: if you disagree with anything the Director said today, play the tapes for all of America to hear. Or admit that there are no tapes.”

Trump alluded to secret recordings of his interactions with Comey in the days after he fired him in May, although the White House has declined to confirm their existence.

Comey testified on Thursday that he felt pressure from Trump to drop an FBI investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. But he acknowledged that apart from his sworn testimony, there was no way to corroborate his account.

“Lordy, I hope there are tapes,” Comey said at one point during the hearing.

“All I can do is hope,” Comey said at another point. “The president surely knows whether he taped me.”